[166-1] Among these may specially be mentioned _Im eshkacheych Yerush'layim tishkach yemini_, “If ever I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither”; _Lecha dodi likrath kallah_, “Come, my friend, to meet the bride”; _Mosheh Rabbenu_, “Moses, our teacher.” [167-1] Cp. _Heine über Börne_ in Heine's collected works. [169-1] The author of this translation is Mr. C. G. Montefiore. [170-1] Cp. _Song of Songs_, iv and vi. [170-2] See the previous note. XVI MODERN HEBREW JOURNALISM Hebrew is generally considered to be, like ancient Syriac, Arabic, Greek and Latin, a dead language, and yet it possesses so much flexibility, and has, moreover, been enriched in modern times with so many new words, phrases, and expressions that it has in some respects almost become modernized. There are at the present day, both in the Old World and the New, quite a respectable number of Hebrew periodicals, including a few daily papers, which seem to enjoy considerable popularity and support among a moderately large section of the Jewish reading public. These constitute as a whole what may appropriately be termed modern Hebrew journalism. Modern Hebrew journalism has an interesting history of its own, and likewise an intimate connexion with the rise and development of Neo-Hebrew literature. It dates from the time when the sage of Berlin, as Moses Mendelssohn is commonly called, began to issue his epoch-making German translation of the Pentateuch, which made its first appearance in the year 1780. This translation was accompanied by an excellent Hebrew introduction to the Bible, or rather to the five books of Moses, entitled _O'r-La-netibah_ (‪אור לנתיבה‬), of which Mendelssohn was the author, and likewise by an equally excellent commentary, now well known under the name of _Biur_. Mendelssohn had several eminent Hebraists for co-operators in the commentary, among whom may specially be mentioned Hartwig Wessely, the renowned composer of the fine heroic poem, _The Mosaid_, called “Songs of Glory” (‪שירי תפארת‬). The introduction and commentary were both distinguished by their learning, as well as by the purity and freshness of their style. They were thus a great advance on the earlier criticisms, which were written in a Hebrew dialect that was a mere mumbling of a decrepit tongue, and they attained great popularity among the cultured community.